NH1 News

Commission denies Dover man's request for early voter checklist purge

DOVER - The New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission has denied a well-known Dover republican's request to purge the Dover voting checklist early.

Former City Councilor David Scott had requested the hearing, petitioning to have the city purge the city's voter checklist ahead of the required schedule under state law.

According to New Hampshire statute, cities and towns only have to purge their voter checklist every 10 years.

Scott said that he was motivated to request the purge after losing a bid for state representative seat. He told NH1 News that he had sent out mailings to 1,000 people who had registered to vote on Election Day in November. Of those, Scott said he received about 70 mailings back.

Scott said he became concerned that people had come to Dover and registered to vote on Election Day, even though they may not have been residents.

"There are people that don't live here that come and vote in our elections, and they tilt it in directions that are other than what the people who live here want," Scott said.

The Ballot Law Commission heard public input for nearly two hours, most of which opposed Scott's request.

The BLC deliberated for about 5 minutes, and decided to deny Scott's request.

"We're pleased. I think ultimately our objective all along was just to explain the process we use here in Dover to maintain and verify our voter checklists in the four wards in question and I think that process is set forth in state statute," said Dover City Attorney Anthony Blenkinsop. "We follow the statute, we take the process seriously and toward that end I think the commission understood that so we're pleased with the result here today."